The Brick – Part 2

Yesterday, I spoke about my wife’s iPhone 4 randomly turning into a piece of masonry, and I got quite a few responses about it. Thanks for all of your positive – and not so positive posts, so let’s address some of the basics.

Yes, I did try a hard reset. I’ve been doing that on iPhones since I first got my 3G, in case something was running in the background and stalled. I tried it several times, actually, with no luck. I tried it when it was plugged in and charging, once when it wasn’t charging, once yesterday morning, etc. It was my first line of defense.

I did not try to plug it into iTunes. Why? No idea. Must’ve slipped my mind, actually, but I didn’t try that. Instead, I went into my appointment at the Genius Bar and had it checked out.

Within 5 minutes, the tech had it running. How? Hard reset. Seriously, the same thing I had done a few times the day before, didn’t work. As it turns out though, the tech wasn’t surprised by this, either, and it’s something he’s seen before.

Apparently, quite a few people have come into the store with bricked iPhones, and they all have the same common trait: They did a “restore from backup” when they bought their iPhone, and that has something to do with the bricking. In reality, the phone isn’t bricked. It’s working, and it is functioning, but the screen and sounds turn off so you have no idea what’s going on. It’s odd, but apparently, it’s happening to other people as well.

I took home the phone, and I’m waiting for my wife to hook up her laptop and sync it. Then she restores it to original settings, then pulls from a backup. Once that’s done, we should have it fixed – or so I was told.